What are the daily thoughts of animals, unaware of their being observed? This series of mixed media drawings on African animals explores this concept.
These drawing are based on many hours viewing live webcams in African nature preserves. Wildlife shows and films are very dramatic and often violent. In reality, most of the time wild animals are doing nothing much. It’s wonderful to watch an elephant leisurely drinking water, or a crocodile floating for hours. I appreciate the mundaneness of their lives.
Watching through the camera, I feel like a primordial eye in the sky, silently viewing from far away. Although I am removed from the animals physically, the watching them seems intimate and personal.
For each drawing, I study about the animals and try to understand what life is life for them. What does the crocodile see through their eyes, and from their very low viewpoint for such a large animal? Does the elephant feel its immense size and weight? I try to find a way into the animal’s mind, and from their decide how to draw them.
These animals range from Endangered to Least Concern, with most of them being considered Vulnerable. I’m viewing them in a very particular moment in time: they are not extinct yet, and technology lets me watch them from the other side of the world.
All drawings are 22″ x 30″ (24w” x 36w” framed) except for Steenbok and Spotted Eagle Owl which are 9″ x 12″.
Prices:
Graphite/gouache/ink on paper.
Large works are $1000.
Small works are $400.
Just as we ignore strangers walking down a busy street, From what I’ve observed, wild animals completely ignore each other if their lives are not connected.
Baboons are very human-like, and I like imagining if I were a baboon I would look basically the same but have a mouth full of vicious fangs.
Giraffes are often portrayed as cute, but there’s really something awkward and monstrous about them. To drink water, they have to bend down in this contorted way, which leaves them vulnerable to predators. This tells me that sometimes you have to be awkward and vulnerable to get what you want.
Normally in large social groups, I occasionally see a lone elephant at night. Sometimes my thoughts at night a like a large elephant, roaming in the dark.
Young lionesses can choose to live in their own group away from a pride, and when they tire, they sleep deeply in the open. They seem fearless.
If you can’t look up, it’s hard to see the sky. What then does the world look like?
Hyenas live in matrilineal societies, and the female have a completely unique anatomy not found in any other mammal. Humans view them negatively yet their culture has many similarities to human society.
graphite/gouache/ink on paper.
Steenboks are very tiny antelope, at most two feet tall. Instead of a fight or flight reaction to danger, they lay down in the grass and seemingly disappear. I can relate to this.
Despite their placid demeanor, hippopotamuses are fierce. Despite their rotund bodies and short legs, they can run 20 miles per hour. They are not to be messed with.
Despite their incredible speed and agility, Impalas are very tense; they never seem to sleep.
Sold artwork from this series
I’ve only seen owls high up in trees, so I was very surprised to see this owl casually hanging out in a pond.